what to do with the little ones?

[yllek]

I know this territory must have been covered before, but my search mojo isn't working for me tonight.

My children are a m e l l o w 5 yo boy and a 2 yo girl who does not nap. Please do not tell me to homeschool while she naps. It never ever happens. I have in the past resorted to videos for my little one, but I just cannot continue to use that tactic.

I need about two hours a day with my 5 yo. We get a late start and take lots of breaks, so we usually don't finish until lunch. Our work together is mostly teacher-intensive: lots of read alouds and reading practice, game- or manipulative-based math, art activities, science experiments, and writing that requires lots of supervision (some motor skills issues). By the time we are done, Little Sister is just hopping mad.

I've tried including her in the homeschooling activities, but she's having none of it, and she's terribly distracting. Disruptive. Actually, a holy terror.

I am waiting with bated breath to hear from you wise homeschooling mamas. I know many of you have BTDT. What has worked or is working for you and your younger set?

[CariOfOz]

My answer may not be the popular one, but it's worked for me My holy terror (actually UNholy terror may be a better term for him ) goes to preschool/daycare 2 days a week It started out because I couldn't get anything done with his brothers last year.. but now I use those days to go OUT with them. My 3.5yo does.not.listen. He was always all over the show so going to the science centre, museum, art gallery/class was a total disaster all around.

On the days we are home I either fill up the wading pool just outside our dining room sliding door (right near the table we do our seat work at) and let him splash happily... or I succumb to the dvd or abc kids morning shows for a bit *sometimes* he will be happy if I give him playdoh at the little table nearby, or his lacing cards/beads etc to work with. It's sort of hit & miss honestly.

You're totally not the only mama her with this problem though, so hopefully some of the other posters will have some interesting ideas

[theretohere]

I have a whole bunch of stuff that my 2.5 year old only gets when it's school time. It works out well since we are at the table- she can do messy craft stuff with me there to supervise. We have lots of homemade modeling dough, paper, glitter, markers, colored pencils, ect. I also let her play with cuisenaire rods and pattern blocks. She has special coloring books she only gets at that time to keep them more exciting, as well.

[jessicaSAR]

I don't have great advice, other than remembering that this will pass!

I have a 23 month old LO and while he is a very mellow child, he can still be a holy terror during lessons. I do have two older children (6 and 9), so they often take turns playing with him while I am working one on one with them. But, that's not really an option for you. He does nap, but only for an hour. The rest of the time I just try to tolerate the chaos. He has his own "workbox" drawers, which have consumable workbooks that the girls have completed, and he likes to sit with us and "work" in his books. But, much of the time he is climbing on the table and shoving books in my face for reading. And, we just do the best we can.

I do some of our readings at breakfast, snack and lunch, when he is belted into his chair and eating, And, when I am really desperate I let him play in the kitchen sink while we work at the kitchen table.

Most of the time it's just minute to minute management...

[stacylsc]

We have two little ones to engage during 'lessons'...it isn't easy, but it DOES get better. This year is much better than last as we're able to discuss "respecting" one another, etc.

Last year, though, we...
* I swapped with another Mom in the neighborhood...she'd take my girls for a few hours in the morning, I'd take her boys in the afternoons after naps. It wasn't every day, but probably three times a week...this is when we'd tackle the "please don't distract" subjects.

* I put together "activity cards"...they could each chose one and then do the activity....lacing, playdoh, books on tape, education video, puzzles, other activities that they only had a chance to do during lesosns...once it was used it went in the "done" jar and they had to wait a week until they could do it again...this made them more "desirable" somehow.

* I would put off lessons until my husband's days off...he would take the girls so that I could do lessons. There is no rule of which days school has to happen, so we would do them on whatever days he had off...sometimes we'd double up on those hard-to-focus subjects.

* When it was going REALLY terribly, I would put the girls to bed for the night and let my son do lessons in the evening....he was still taking afternoon naps, so it wasn't terrible on his sleep schedule, though evening is not his ideal learning time.

* My girls adore baths...I would let them splash in the tub and we'd do lessons nearby...my son got to have his own tub-time when he was done with lessons and then I'd focus on the girls.

* When my husband would come home in the evenings from work and I was making supper, he'd take the girls into their room and play with them and I'd have my son sit near me while I cooked and we do the things we weren't able to get to earlier in the day...this worked for handwriting or things that I could do while I was walking around.

Keep working on it...you'll get there!

[*Lisa*]

A couple of things that have worked for us lately:

We have two tables/desks set up in a work area--one for the little one and one for the big one. I set up the little one with play dough, stickers, or whatever else I can think of while the big one works at projects at her table. That way the little one doesn't get into the big one's stuff, but I can work with both of them.

My kids are crazy for bubble baths lately, so it works well to do read aloud-type stuff (or anything similar) while they're both in the tub. The little one happily splashes about, happy with minimal attention, while the big one can listen and talk to me.

You could consider doing more work on weekends/evenings/whenever you have another parent around... Nothing says that "schoolwork" must be done during the weekdays.

[Mittsy]

Here's a great list of preschool activities to keep the young one's busy for a few minutes. And, we LOVE Preschool Activity Bags[/url].